Bottle filling apparatus



Dec. 10, 1968 L 3,415,295

BOTTLE FILLING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 27, 1966 JN VE N TOR HERMANN WULFmid A fin hi6 ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,415,295 BOTTLE FILLINGAPPARATUS Hermann Wolf, Schriesheim, Germany, assignor to Holstein &Kappert, Maschinenfabrik Phonix GmbH, Dortmund, Germany Filed Dec. 27,1966, Ser. No. 604,971 Claims priority, application Germany, Dec. 29,1965, H 58,097 17 Claims. (Cl. 141-46) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSUREApparatus for filling bottles with liquids, particularly with beer orother carbonated beverages, wherein each filling cycle includes acounter-pressure stage. A system of valves for each filling head andactuating means including a float connected with each valve whichregulates the outflow of liquid from a filling head.

Automatic sealing of gas-conveying conduits in response to separation offilled containers from filling heads.

Cross-references to related applications A similar structure isdisclosed in the copending application Ser. No. 604,752 filed by me onDec. 27, 1966, for Apparatus for Filling Bottle or the Like.

Background of the invention The present invention relates toimprovements in apparatus for filling bottles or other types ofopen-ended containers with liquids, particularly with beer or othercarbonated beverages. More particularly, the invention relates to bottlefilling apparatus wherein the duration of a filling cycle may beselected at the will of the operating personnel.

It is an important object of the present invention to provide novel andimproved actuating means for effecting opening and closing of valveswhich control the flow of liquid from the filling heads of a bottlefilling apparatus.

Another object of the invention is to provide the filling apparatus withnovel and improved filling heads which can be installed or removedindependently of each other and are provided with means for insuringthat each of a series of containers is filled with liquid to the samelevel to avoid short fills or overfilling.

A further object of the invention is to provide a filling apparatuswherein the containers are filled without any waste in liquid orcompressed gas.

An additional object of the invention is to provide a filling apparatuswhich can operate properly without necessitating the provision of anannular liquid-containing tank which is required in many presently knownbottle filling apparatus.

Summary of the invention The invention resides in the provision of anapparatus for filling bottles or like open-ended containers withliquids, particularly for filling bottles with beer or other carbonatedbeverages. The apparatus comprises a tank whose lower portion is filledwith liquid and whose upper portion contains a supply of compressed gas,preferably carbon dioxide or another inert gas, a plurality ofpreferably annularly arranged and preferably self-supporting discretefilling heads mounted on a support and each having an enclosed chamberprovided with an inlet in communication with the tank through theintermediary of a siphon and an outlet located at a level above theinlet and connectable With the open ends of successive containers, avalve provided in each chamber to regulate the flow of liquid throughthe respective outlet, and actuating 3,415,295 Patented Dec. 10, 1968means for effecting opening and closing of such valves in the course ofa filling cycle so that each valve is caused to open and close duringpredetermined stages of the filling cycle. Each actuating meanscomprises a float mounted in the respective chamber and connected withthe corresponding valve.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic of theinvention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. Theimproved bottle filling apparatus itself, however, both as to itsconstruction and its mode of operation, together with additionalfeatures and advantages thereof, will be best understood upon perusal ofthe following detailed description of certain specific embodiments withreference to the accompanying drawing.

Short description of the drawing The single figure of the drawingillustrates a portion of a bottle filling apparatus with one of itsfilling heads shown in central vertical section.

Description of the preferred embodiments The drawing illustrates anapparatus which can be used for filling of bottles 21 or like open-endedcontainers with beer or other carbonated beverages. It comprises asupport 53 for a series of independently attachable or detachablefilling heads each having an enclosed chamber 2 shown as being filledwith liquid to the level A. The drawing illustrates in full section afirst filling head 1 and indicates by broken lines the position of asecond filling head 1 located behind the filling head 1. The support 53carries a complete annulus of such filling heads which are located at alevel above the path of travel of containers 21 advanced stepwise by asuitable conveyor of known design having means for lifting emptycontainers into liquid-receiving positions and for lowering thecontainers upon completion of a filling cycle.

The filling head 1 has a vertical nozzle 3 installed in its bottom wall:and connectable with the open upper end of an empty container 21. Moreparticularly, the nozzle 3 is connectable with the gasket 56 of abell-shaped centering member 23 forming part of the filling head 1 andmovable up and down. When moved upwardly toward the outlet 5 to assumethe position which is shown in the drawing, the gasket 56 of thecentering member 23 prevents uncontrolled escape of fluids from theinterior of the container 21.

The chamber 2 has an outlet 5 which is constituted by the upper end ofthe axial bore of the nozzle 3. This outlet is scalable by the firstvalve 4 which is biased downwardly and into sealing engagement with thenozzle 3 by a helical spring 8 forming part of a composite valveactuating unit. The actuating unit further comprises a horizontal shaft9 which is rotatable in the filling head 1 and has an eccentric portion10 engaging with the tip at the upper end of a stem 4a forming part ofthe valve 4. The stem 4a comprises two telescoptically connected andrelatively slidable portions and the spring 8 can move the upper portionof the stern upwardly when the eccentric portion 10 is caused to leavethe lower end position shown in the drawing.

The inlet 7 of the chamber 2 is located at a level below the outlet 5and is connected with one end of a siphon 6. The other end of the siphonis connected with a tank 50 containing in its lower portion asubstantial supply of liquid. The upper portion of the. tank 50 isfilled with a compressed gas. The outlet 5 of the chamber 2 ispreferably located at a level above the liquid level in the tank 50.

When the valve 4 is in fully closed position, it is held by theeccentric portion 10, by its own weight, by the bias of the spring 8,and by the weight of a float 11 in the chamber 2. The float 11 formspart of the aforementioned actuating unit and is biased downwardly bythe spring 8 to bear against a shoulder of the valve 4. If the shaft 9is rotated through 90 degrees, the pressure of the eccentric portion 10upon the stern 4a decreases. Such pressure will decrease still furtherof the shaft 9 is rotated through another 90 degrees. The spring 8 isthen fully expanded so that its bias approximates zero. The remainingforces acting upon the valve 4 in a sense to maintain it in closedposition remain unchanged.

The forces which tend to maintain the valve 4 in closed position areopposed by the bias of a helical expansion spring 26 and by the buoyancyof the float 11. Such buoyancy will be felt only if the chamber 2contains a sufficient supply of liquid. The spring 26 forms part of thevalve actuating unit.

The relationship between the forces which tend to open and close thevalve 4 is as follows:

When the eccentric portion 10 of the shaft 9 is caused to make a quarterturn with respect to the position shown in the drawing, the closingforces are weaker than the bias of the spring 26 plus the buoyancy ofthe float 11. The bias of the spring 26 is stronger than the combinedweight of the valve 4 and float 11.

The apparatus also comprises a first conduit 12 which extends in partthrough the support 53 and then into the filling head 1. This conduitcan connect the upper portion of the tank 50 with the interior of thecontainer 21. A second conduit 13 can connect the container 21 with areservoir 51 which is filled with a compressed gas, preferably the sameinert gas which fills the upper portion of the tank 50. However, the gaspressure in the reservoir 51 is less than that in the tank 50, and thedifferential between such pressures will be selected by operatingpersonnel to determine the length of the filling cycle. A valve 60 inthe conduit 13 can be manipulated to regulate the pressure of gas in thereservoir 51. The conduits 12, 13 are respectively provided with valves14, 15 which can be actuated by eccentric portions 16, 17 of the shaft9. A bore 18 which constitutes a common portion of the conduits 12 and13 contains a normally closed shutofl. valve 19 which is moved to theopen position (shown in the drawings) in automatic response to movementof the centering member 23 into sealing engagement with the nozzle 3.The operating means for the shutoff valve 19 further comprises a lever22 which is pivoted to the support 53 and is rockable by the centeringmember 23 in a sense to open the shutoff valve. A one-way valve 20,constituted by a float, is installed in an enlarged section of the bore18 and can be moved upwardly into sealing engagement with an annularseat 200 of the filling head 1 to prevent penetration of liquid towardthe shutoff valve 19.

The filling head 1 further comprises an elongated filling tube 24installed in the nozzle 3 and extending well into the interior of acontainer 21 which is in sealing engagement with the gasket 56. The tube24 has one or more radial openings 25 which will determine the upperlevel of liquid in a filled container 21. The lower end portion of thefilling tube 24 has an inclined end face 24a so that it cannot be sealedby the bottom wall of the container 21. The inclined end face 24a alsoinsures that the lower end portion of the filling tube 24 finds its wayinto a container if it happens to strike against the surface at the topof the neck. Furthermore, such inclined surface 24a insures that theliquid accumulating in the container 21 is subjected to a minimum ofagitation. The upper end of the tube 24 is biased downwardly by aprestressed helical spring 58. The spring 58 yields if the lower endportion of the filling tube 24 reaches the bottom wall of a container.

The operation is as follows:

Prior to starting a filling cycle, an empty container 21 is moved intoregistry with the centering member 23 and is lifted to move the gasket56 into sealing engagement with the lower end of the nozzle 3. Thefilling tube 24 extends into the lowermost part of the thus lifted emptycontainer 21 and the centering member 23 causes the lever 22 to open theshutoff valve 19. The valve 14 is open and the valve 15 is closed. Thus,the conduit 12 and bore 18 admit highly compressed gas from the upperportion of the tank 56 whereby such gas flows past the float 20 andenters the interior of the container 21. The liquid level A in thechamber 2 of the filling head 1 is assumed to be flush with the outlet 5at the upper end of the nozzle 3 and the eccentric portion 10 of theshaft 9 maintains the valve 4 in closed position. The pressure of gaswhich is entrapped in the upper portion of the chamber 2 is somewhatless than the pressure of gas in the upper portion of the tank 50. Thedifference between such pressures is determined by the height of theliquid column between the level A and the liquid level in the tank 50.

When the gas pressure in the container 21 equals the gas pressure in theupper portion of the tank 50 (or at the time when the valve 14 is causedto open), the shaft 9 is turned through the intermediary of itsoutwardly extending portion 52, which can be constituted by an indexingwheel, to such an extent that its eccentric portion 10 permits the upperportion of the valve stem 4a to perform substantially one-half of itsmaximum upward stroke. The valve 14 remains open and the valve 15remains closed. The bias of the spring 8 is reduced to such an extentthat the bias of the spring 26 and the buoyancy of the float 11 overcomethe remaining closing forces. The valve 4 opens but only for a shortinterval of time because such opening results in immediate equalizationof pressures in chamber 2 and container 21. This is tantamount to anequalization of pressures between the chamber 2 and tank 50 because thecontainer 21 is connected with the tank via conduit 12. Suchequalization of pressures would cause return flow of liquid from thechamber 2 and through the siphon 6 back into the tank 50; however, thefloat 11 descends immediately and returns the valve 4 to closedposition.

The shaft 9 is then rotated again to close the valve 14 and to open thevalve 15 simultaneously with further lifting of the eccentric portion 10so that the bias of the spring 8 is reduced to a minimum. The spring 26opens the valve 4 and the conduit 13 connects the container 21 with thereservoir 51. This results in a reduction of gas pressure in the upperportion of the chamber 2 so that the liquid penetrates through the boreof the nozzle 3 and is accelerated in response to increasing differencein pressures between the tank 50 and container 21. The rate of liquidinflow into the container exceeds the rate of flow by gravity feed. Theliquid cannot flow back into the siphon 6 because the gas pressure intank 50 exceeds the pressure in the upper portion of the chamber 2. Thearrangement is preferably such that closing of the valve 14 occurssimultaneously with opening of the valve 15 so that the drop in gaspressure in the container 21 is gradual to prevent splashing ofinflowing liquid. The filling stage is completed when the liquid fillsthe container 21 to the top face of its open end and penetrates into thebore 18 to lift the float 20 into sealing engagement with the seat 20a.

The shaft 9 is thereupon rotated again to close the valve 15 and to openthe valve 14. At the same time, the eccentric portion 10 movesdownwardly and displaces the upper portion of the stern 4a by half thelength of its maximum stroke to effect partial compression of the spring8. Since the pressure at both sides of the float 20 equals the pressurein the tank 50, the float 11 descends and the gas entering via conduit12 expels the liquid from the bore 18 and from the upper portion of thecontainer 21 down to the level of openings 25 in the filling tube 24.Such liquid flows through the nozzle 3, chamber 2, siphon 6 and backinto the tank 50. The siphoning action is terminated when the container21 is filled to the level of openings 25, i.e., when the gas flowingfrom the conduit 12 can enter such openings and penetrates into thechamber 2. The float 11 closes the valve 4 when the liquid level in thechamber 2 drops to A,

Further rotation of the shaft 9 will cause the eccentric portion 10 toreturn to its lowermost position and to effect full compression of thespring 8. The eccentric portion 16 closes the valve 14 and the eccentricportion 17 opens the valve 15. This results in partial reduction ofpressure in the container 21. The latter is then moved downwardlywhereby the centering member 23 follows such movement and the lever 22permits the shutoff valve 19 to close. The valve is then closed inresponse to further rotation of the shaft 9. Such closing of the valve15 can take place simultaneously with or shortly before or after closingof the shutoff valve 19. The filling cycle is completed.

If the chamber 2 is free of liquid when a filling cycle begins, forexample, when the filling apparatus is started, the valve 4 remainsclosed after the pressure in an empty container rises to equal thepressure in the tank 50 and after the eccentric portion 10 is movedhalfway toward its uppermost position to effect partial reduction in thebias of the spring 8. The closing forces then exceed the opening forceswhich act upon the valve 4 because the float 11 lack buoyancy. Thefilling stage begins only when the eccentric portion 10 moves to itsuppermost position so that the bias of the spring 8 is reduced to aminimum. This occurs simultaneously with opening of the valve 15whereupon the filling cycle proceeds in a manner as described above.

If the filling apparatus is brought to a standstill at the time when thevalve 4 is open and the interior of a container 21 is under the samepressure which prevails in the tank 50 (e.g., due to an unforeseendefect in operation), the float 11 prevents evacuation of liquid fromthe chamher 2 because it closes the valve 4 as soon as the liquid levelreaches the outlet 5 at the upper end of the nozzle 3.

An important advantage of the float 11 is that it enables the siphon 6to return into the tank 50 such surplus of liquid which fills acontainer 21 beyond the openings 25 in the filling tube 24 when thefilling stage of the filling stage of the filling cycle is completed.This renders it possible to operate without a further reservoir which isnecessary in presently known bottle filling apparatus and wherein thegas pressure must exceed the pressure which prevails in the upperportion of the tank 50.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist ofthe present invention that others can, by applying current knowledge,readily adapt it for various applications without omitting featureswhich fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic andspecific aspects of my contribution to the art and, therefore, suchadaptations should and are intended to be comprehended within themeaning and range of equivalence of the claims.

What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent isset forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In an apparatus for filling bottles or like open-ended containerswith liquids, a tank having a liquid-containing lower portion and anupper portion containing a supply of compressed gas; a filling headhaving an enclosed chamber provided with an inlet and an outlet, saidoutlet being located at a level above said inlet and said inlet being incommunication with said tank, a valve provided in said chamber toregulate the flow of liquid through said outlet; and actuating means foreffecting opening and closing of said valve in the course of a fillingcycle, said actuating means comprising a fioat connected to said .valve.

2. A structure as defined in claim 1, further comprising a gas-filledreservoir wherein the gas pressure is less than in the upper portion ofsaid tank, first and second conduit means respectively connecting saidupper portion and said reservoir with the open end of a container whichreceives liquid from said outlet in the course of a filling cycle, andsecond and third valves respectively provided in said first and secondconduits to regulate the flow of gas therethrough, said actuating meansfurther comprising means for effecting opening and closing of saidsecond and third valves in a predetermined sequence in the course of afilling cycle.

3. A structure as defined in claim 2, wherein said conduits have acommon portion which communicates with the open end of a container inthe course of a filling cycle, and further comprising a normally closedshutoff valve provided in said common portion and operating means foropening said shutoff valve in response to placing of a container intoliquid-receiving position with reference to said outlet.

4. A structure as defined in claim 3, wherein said operating meanscomprises a centering member for the open ends of containers, saidcentering member being movable toward and away from said outlet and saidoperating means further comprising motion transmitting means for openingsaid shutoff valve in response to movement of said centering membertoward said outlet.

5. A structure as defined in claim 2, wherein said filling headcomprises an elongated filling tube communicating with said outlet andarranged to extend into the interior of a container which is placed intoliquid-receiving position with reference to said outlet, said fillingtube having at least one radial opening at the desired liquid level in afilled container.

6. A structure as defined in claim 5, wherein said filling tube has alower end portion provided with an end face inclined in such a way thatsaid lower end portion cannot be sealed by the bottom wall of acontainer which receives liquid from said outlet.

7. A structure as defined in claim 5, wherein said filling tube isreciprocable in said filling head and further comprising resilient meansfor biasing said filling tube downwardly.

8. A structure as defined in claim 1, wherein said actuating meansfurther comprises first resilient means for biasing said valve to openposition and second resilient means for biasing said valve to closedposition.

9. A structure as defined in claim 1, wherein said filling head is aself-contained unit and further comprising support means detachablycarrying said filling head.

10. A structure as defined in claim 1, wherein the liquid level in saidtank is located below said outlet.

11. A structure as defined in claim 10, further com prising a siphonestablishing said communication between said tank and said inlet.

12. A structure as defined in claim 1, wherein said filling headcomprises a vertical nozzle having an axial bore whose upper endconstitutes said outlet, said nozzle having a lower end adapted to beconnected with the open ends of successive containers.

13. A structure as defined in claim 3, further comprising one-Way valvemeans provided in said common portion downstream of said shutoff valve,said one-way valve means comprising a float arranged to prevent flow ofliquid from a filled container toward said shutoff valve.

14. A structure as defined in claim 2, wherein the difference betweenthe gas pressures in said tank and said reservoir is variable todetermine the length of filling cycles.

15. A structure as defined in claim 2, further comprising means forvarying the difference between the pressure of gases in said reservoirand said tank.

16. A structure as defined in claim 2, wherein said tank contains asupply of carbonated liquid and wherein the gas in said tank and saidreservoir is an inert gas.

17. A structure as defined in claim 2, wherein said actuating meansfurther comprises an indexible shaft rotatably mounted in said fillinghead, said means for effecting opening and closing of said second andthird valves being constituted by eccentric portions of said shaft.

(References on following page) 7 8 References Cited 1,116,092 10/ 1961Germany.

960,061 6/ 1964 Great Britain. UNITED STATES PATENTS 436,146 10/1935Great Britain. 3,209,794 10/1965 Granier 14148 X FOREIGN PATENTS 5HOUSTON S. BELL, 111., Primary Examiner.

446,583 2/1948 Canada. US. Cl. X.R.

647,271 11/1964 Belgium. 14148, 57, 116; 137-433, 624.18

